Workshop Curriculum Connections

Science and Engineering

Kindergarten - Science Stories

Students explore science through hands-on experiments and playful activities that introduce chemistry and germs. They learn basic scientific concepts like reactants, products, and predictions while making elephant toothpaste and slime. Students will also explore germs and hygiene. This connects directly to curriculum outcomes such as playful exploration, problem-solving, and communicative practices as students ask questions, test ideas, and share observations.

Grade 1 - Engineering Your World

Students explore how things work through hands-on engineering challenges. Using everyday materials, they will build, test, and improve the designs of towers and rockets. In addition to experimenting with balance, strength, and motion. Through playful inquiry and curiosity, students will learn by doing, asking questions, making predictions, and seeing firsthand how their ideas can solve problems or create something new.

Grade 2 - Phases of Matter

Students explore the natural world by investigating solids, liquids, and gases through hands-on experiments. They watch a chemical reaction “inflate” a balloon with gas, play with a non-Newtonian fluid that’s both solid and liquid, and grow water-absorbing materials. Through these activities, kids satisfy their curiosity, test ideas, and discover how things work.

Grade 3 - Weather Wonders

Grade 4 - Earth Explorers

Students explore the Earth’s layers, learn about density and forces, and see how rocks, soil, and landslides form and change the surface. Through hands-on models and experiments, they investigate Earth’s materials, observe natural processes, and practice scientific inquiry, connecting directly to curriculum topics like Earth’s composition, rock and soil formation, and surface-changing forces.

Grade 5 - Angry Birds Engineering

Students explore forces, motion, and energy, and see how engineers design, build, and test structures. Through hands-on experiments like egg drop inertia, and Angry Bird catapult construction, they investigate friction, momentum, and different types of forces, while applying problem-solving and trial-and-error. This connects directly to curriculum topics such as simple machines, forces, and practices for scientific and technological inquiry.

Grade 6 - Biotech & DNA

Students explore DNA, biotechnology, and plant growth. Through hands-on experiments like extracting strawberry DNA and building mini greenhouses, they investigate how living systems work, how environmental factors affect plants, and how biotechnology helps optimize agriculture. This connects directly to curriculum topics like ecological systems, adaptive technologies, and scientific design challenges.

Grade 7 - Climate Challenge

Details coming as we are updating our workshops

Grade 8 - Space Engineers

Students explore how technology and robotics are used in modern farming through digital agriculture. Working with the LEGO Education SPIKE Prime and coding in the LEGO Education SPIKE App, students build and program a robotic grabber that mimics machines used to harvest crops. This activity relates to middle school curriculum topics such as coding, robotics, and design thinking while connecting to real-world applications of technology in agriculture.

Grade 9 - Carbon Consumption

Students explore how plants exchange carbon dioxide through photosynthesis and cellular respiration, and how these processes connect to the carbon cycle. Using aquatic plants and the pH indicator bromothymol blue, students observe colour changes to determine when plants are producing or using CO₂. Through hands-on experiments, they develop hypotheses, analyze data, and compare processes, connecting directly to curriculum topics like energy flow in ecosystems, biochemical reactions, and the function of organisms in an ecosystem.

Grade 10 - Energy Engineers

Students explore how moving water can be used to generate electricity through hydropower. They will first learn about different forms of renewable energy, including hydroelectric dams and tidal energy. Then, students will investigate the concepts of potential and kinetic energy to calculate the energy of moving water. Through a hands-on design challenge, students will build and test a simple water turbine to observe how water flow can produce electricity. This activity connects directly to curriculum topics including energy transformations, electricity and electrification, applied technology, and sustainability.

Digital Literacy

Kindergarten - Amazing Algorithm

Students explore basic coding concepts through the playful, hands-on Osmos app called Coding Awbie. Students will learn about algorithms by receiving clear, step-by-step instructions and practice block coding to guide Awbie through mazes, collect items, and solve challenges. This connects directly to curriculum topics such as playful exploration, problem-solving, and multimodal literacies. Students also develop communication skills as they explain, test, and refine their instructions for Awbie.

Grade 1 - Cubelets

Students explore robotics and programming using Cubelets, learning how sensors, action blocks, and think blocks work together to make robots respond to their environment. Through hands-on challenges like building light-sensitive robots, and creating race cars, students will investigate cause-and-effect, problem-solving, and creative thinking. This connects directly to curriculum topics such as curiosity, inquiry, and understanding how things work.

Grade 2 - Super Spheros

Students explore programming and robotics using Spheros. They will learn how to do basic block coding and use sensors to control motion. Through hands-on activities like drawing shapes and designing accessories for their Spheros, students will investigate cause-and-effect, problem-solving, and creativity. This connects directly to curriculum topics such as curiosity, inquiry, and understanding how things work in the natural and technological world.

Grade 3 - Edison Robots

Students explore programming, robotics, and sensors while learning how robots can interact with their environment. Through hands-on activities like clap-controlled driving, obstacle avoidance, and Sumo wrestling with Edison robots, they investigate cause-and-effect, motion, and decision-making, while applying problem-solving and computational thinking. This connects directly to curriculum topics such as investigation, sensemaking, and technological inquiry.

Grade 4 - Makey Makey Madness

Students explore circuits, electricity, and coding with Makey Makeys. In addition to learning how engineers design, build, and test interactive systems. Through hands-on activities such as building pianos and coding in Scratch, students investigate how electrical currents flow, how circuits are completed, and how digital inputs can control physical outputs. This connects directly to curriculum topics such as technological inquiry and the physical properties of materials.

Grade 5 - Rainbow Robotics

Students explore light, colour, and sensors, and see how engineers design, build, and test robotic systems. Through hands-on experiments like coding Ozobots and creating “combine harvesters,” they investigate how robots detect colour, follow paths, and interact with objects, while applying problem-solving and trial-and-error. This connects directly to curriculum topics such as body mechanics, simple machines, and technological inquiry.

Grade 6 - Codemakers:little Bits

Students explore the fundamentals of electrical circuits and modular electronics using the littleBits. After a brief introduction to binary systems, parity checks, and algorithms, students learn how electronic systems can be built from simple components such as power sources, inputs, and outputs. Working in teams, they design and test circuits using sensors, lights, buzzers, and motors to complete a series of engineering challenges. Through hands-on experimentation, students work through curriculum outcomes such as troubleshooting, problem-solving, and iterative design.

Grade 7 - Microbits

Students are introduced to coding and logical thinking using the BBC micro:bit and the Microsoft MakeCode. Students begin by exploring Boolean logic (true/false) through an interactive activity, demonstrating how computers use simple decisions to process information. They then learn how to program the micro:bit using block coding to control its LEDs and sensors. This activity develops information technology skills, including coding and digital systems, while also strengthening middle school curriculum outcomes such as design thinking through problem solving and troubleshooting.

Grade 8 - Spike PRIME

Grade 9 - Infrared Rovers

Students explore planetary science and the conditions required for life using robotics and coding. Working in pairs, they program Sphero Robot probes with the Sphero Edu app to travel around the classroom and investigate different “planets.” Each planet sends data such as temperature, atmosphere, and water presence through infrared signals. Students analyze this information to determine whether the planet is habitable and identify which planet in our solar system it represents, connecting concepts in space science, energy, ecosystems, and applied technology.

Grade 10 - SafeHackers

Students are introduced to computer programming and cybersecurity through hands-on coding with Python. Students begin by exploring cybersecurity concepts and reflecting on their own online safety habits. They will then learn fundamental programming concepts, including variables, libraries, print statements, user input, comments, and loops using Python. Through this activity, students gain an introduction to programming logic, ethical hacking concepts, and cybersecurity career pathways, while connecting to curriculum topics such as applied technology, digital safety, problem solving, and computational thinking.